It was only a few months ago when I ran into TechArt's president, Thomas Behringer, in Tokyo where he expounded on the virtues of his company's latest creation, the GTstreet based on the new Porsche 911 Turbo. "You must promise me that you will drive one as soon as we have one available in the U.S.," he said. Well, I kept that promise, sort of. CEC (Claus Ettensberger Corporation), the North American distributor for TechArt, dropped one off for us only after it had participated in a 4000-mile cross-country race. Talk about a grueling break-in period.

One would imagine that there's no room for improvement in a car such as the Porsche 911 Turbo. Its 480-bhp turbocharged flat-6 and road-carving all-wheel-drive handling have made it one of the world's best sports cars, and it demonstrated its prowess around the Streets of Willow Springs by tearing through its 16 corners in 1:30.69.

The TechArt beat it by more than a second and a half...

The name of the GTstreet's game is power. Thanks to larger variable-vane turbochargers, custom headers, special intake and exhaust systems, a remapped ECU and other upgrades, the GTstreet's 3.6-liter flat-6 pumps out 630 bhp at 6800 rpm and an asphalt-crinkling 605 lb.-ft. of torque at 4500 rpm. What this means to the driver is that as soon as you step on the throttle pedal, you're catapulted into another dimension. The TechArt 2+2 gets to 60 mph in 3.2 sec., and reaches the 100-mph mark in a scant 7.2 sec. You cross the quarter-mile line going 125.2 mph in 11.4 sec.

Whether it was the long, grueling break-in period or that it was set up for the open road, the GTstreet had trouble keeping up with the stock 911 Turbo on the skidpad. TechArt installed its custom coil-over suspension kit, which reduces body roll and lowers ride height by about an inch, but the stock Porsche outperformed the TechArt on the skidpad. Also, despite being fitted with the company's upgraded brake system, it took the GTstreet seven extra feet to stop from 60 mph. The culprit may have been the GTstreet's Michelin Sport Cup tires, which may not be the ideal shoes for the awd TechArt 911's setup. The car fared better through the slalom where it was faster than the stock 911 by 1.7 mph.

TechArt offers a tasteful and attractive body kit for the GTstreet, provided you can get past our test car's nasty front-end paint job. (CEC informed us the paint scheme was designed specially for the cross-country race.) It consists of a revised front bumper, front fenders, side skirts, quarter panels, rear bumper, rear wing, headlight rings and carbon roof spoiler. Not only does all this make you stand out in a crowd, it produces gobs of downforce at high speed.

The GTstreet is available though CEC for $250,000, and while you may feel that the Porsche 911 Turbo has more than enough performance for your needs, you may well have second thoughts after sampling the GTstreet.